Humbling
by nalesnik
Summary: Draco Malfoy must lower himself to asking someone he hates -- and who hates him -- to the Valentine's Day Ball. Just how wrong are their believes of each other?
1. February 12, Morning

Bronwyn pulled a band around her ponytail as she hurried into the Great Hall and collapsed beside her best friend on the long bench. She turned, sliding her legs under the table and grabbing for a biscuit and a few pieces of bacon before leaning close to Caitlyn. "Did I miss anything important, Cait?" The other girl shook her head as she swallowed.  
  
"Just people laughing at Loony," the other girl whispered. "I'm not sure why, I missed that part. I think she might have tripped or something. You know her, in her own world."  
  
"Always."  
  
"What took you so long, Wynnie?"  
  
"Just couldn't seem to get going this morning. I'm exhausted – I was up incredibly bloody too late last night trying to finish my own Arithmancy homework, seeing as I have to tutor two third years in it tonight. Spare me..." she said, rolling her eyes. Caitlyn looked somewhat sympathetic and shrugged at her.  
  
"Tough break. You know, you could say no once in awhile. You might want to try it in front of a mirror sometime. It helps," Caitlyn shrugged at her and Bronwyn just laughed, throwing her the harshest glare she could manage. "Just a suggestion," Caitlyn mumbled as innocently as possible.  
  
Bronwyn stretched again, then reached for some pancakes. "Hey, Malfoy," she called down the table. "Pass the strawberries this way, please." There was no response from him, so Bronwyn shrugged. "Theodore, do me a favor..." she stopped and smiled as he slid the bowl to her. "Thank you, love," she said before heaping strawberries onto her pancakes and turning to her best friend. "What's with Mr. Happy-go-lucky down there?" she asked, nodding her head towards the end of the table where a tall boy with pale blonde hair scowled into his pancakes.  
  
"Oh, you missed the little prince getting shot down – twice," Caitlyn grinned. Bronwyn laughed slightly as she poured some orange juice into her goblet.  
  
"Twice? Who had the guts to do that?"  
  
"Pansy and Millie. Apparently they already have dates to the ball," Caitlyn shrugged. "I think with the Wonder Twins. Theodore said Crabbe and Goyle asked those girls because they didn't think anyone else would go with them. Not that I'm surprised, who would want to go with them? But hey, I think it'll be fun. You and I are gonna have fun no matter what we do, we always do when we do things together." Bronwyn 'hmmm'ed in response, staring intently at the table. "Wait a second...you are going to the ball on Saturday, right?" Caitlyn asked, her fork mid-air, staring at her best friend. Bronwyn just kept her eyes on her plate and tore off a piece of biscuit. "Wynnie?"  
  
The brunette shrugged at the table. "I hadn't really thought about it," she mumbled into her plate. Then, as quickly as she had come into the Hall, she grabbed her bag and the food left on her plate and pulled her legs out from the table. "I have to go see Professor Flitwick before class. I'll see you in Charms, Cait." The girl hurried away, leaving her best friend staring at the door. Caitlyn shrugged.  
  
"Yeah. See you." 


	2. February 12, Afternoon

"Bloody hell!" Draco mumbled as he threw his bag to the floor and himself into his chair in front of the fire. "Those girls already have dates? Theodore and Blaise took the chairs on either side, shrugging.  
  
"Well, you kind of waited until the last minute, Malfoy. What did you expect, for them both to hold out in hopes that you would ask them? They are girls. They don't want to be going to the ball alone, probably even more than you don't want to go alone. I mean, they settled for thugs like Crabbe and Goyle, their standards must be pretty low," Blaise shrugged.  
  
"Sorry, mate, but you have to admit...you did wait until the last bloody possible second. The ball is in two days," Theodore said as he stretched his legs over the side of the chair.  
  
"Who are you taking?"  
  
"Cait. I think she would personally see to it that I never had children if I even thought of taking anyone else," Theodore rolled his eyes.  
  
"You are on the shortest leash I have ever seen, Nott..." Blaise shook his head and shuddered. "Daphne," he stated as he turned back to Draco. "She's better than Pansy or Bullstrode. Much more complacent."  
  
"He means easier to control."  
  
"Whatever, Nott. At least she doesn't have me whipped."  
  
"I am not whipped," Theodore growled deeply. Blaise threw back his head in laughter.  
  
"You? Not whipped? That's the funniest thing I've heard since – "  
  
"Merlin's beard would you two bloody shut up? You two are even worse than the lug heads," Draco hissed, rolling his eyes. Theodore glared evenly at Blaise, who just laughed and shook his head.  
  
"Well, Malfoy? What are you going to do?"  
  
"I need to find someone suitable that does not yet have a date."  
  
"Yeah, that's not going to be the challenge of the century. There are what, four females in this castle you find suitable? And all of them have dates already."  
  
"You could always ask the Mudblood or the Weaslette," Blaise offered with a laugh, catching a glare from his friend. "I know, I know; you would rather kiss a dementor. I've heard it all before. But you have to admit, the pool is dwindling; I am not sure there are any better candidates left."  
  
"Come to think of it, I don't think Bronwyn has a date. Caitlyn mentioned something about it at breakfast, I think. I could ask her about it," Theodore shrugged.  
  
"Bronwyn? Bronwyn Zoruman? Wouldn't my mother bloody love that," Draco sighed, hitting his head on the back of the chair. "I can hear it now. 'See Lucius? It's just like I said. Sairose's little girl and our Draco. Are they not adorable?'" he flicked his wand and a vase on the mantle shattered. "I'm sure that would just make her year."  
  
"Malfoy, we are running out of suggestions here. Bronwyn's the only one I know for sure doesn't have a date. There is a possibility that Granger and the Weasley girl have dates. Not likely, but possible. You wouldn't want to be turned down again today, would you?"  
  
"No thank you, Nott. I think twice in front of the whole school in one day is plenty for me."  
  
"Actually, it was twice in the span of fifteen minutes." Draco glared at him and Theodore just shrugged. "Just thought I'd set the record straight."  
  
"I don't know why I hang around you two," Draco scowled and stalked out of the common room, back into the hallways of the school. Theodore shrugged at Blaise, who just chuckled under his breath.  
  
"Malfoy. It's always something when he's involved..." Theodore nodded in agreement and the two scattered to their schoolwork. 


	3. February 12, Evening

"So...I heard you don't have a date for Saturday," a cocky drawl settled on her ears and her nerves bristled slightly. Bronwyn did not look up from the table and continued to gather her Arithmancy books and notes from the tutoring session she had just finished.  
  
"Can I help you, Draco?" she asked coldly. He slid into the chair beside her.  
  
"I don't think you could ever possibly help me. But I believe I may be able to offer you a proposal that would be rather beneficial to you," he stretched and leaned his chair back on its hind legs.  
  
"A proposal? What is this, Malfoy? A business meeting?" Bronwyn laughed and earned a harsh glare from Madame Pince. "Sorry..." she whispered, gathering the last of her things and pulling her bag to her shoulder. She headed out of the library, the tall boy close at her heels.  
  
"More like a business arrangement."  
  
"Business arrangement? I have no earthly idea what you could possibly be babbling about, but as it is not sounding like anything I would be remotely interested in agreeing to, I have a somewhere else I need to be." Draco grabbed her arm and stopped her, pulling Bronwyn into an empty classroom. She leveled her eyes on him. "What do you want, Malfoy?"  
  
"You don't have a date to the dance on Saturday. I don't –– " Draco cut himself off and Bronwyn could see him backtrack himself. "I would be willing to take you."  
  
"Willing? You would lower yourself to going to a school function with me just so that I don't have to be alone? That's so sweet of you Draco," Bronwyn sugar coated her voice, but there was not a single hint of a smile. "And so unlike you. Besides, what in Merlin's name would make you think I would want to go to the bloody ball anyway? Especially with the likes of you?" Draco laughed as Bronwyn turned on her heel, heading towards the door.  
  
"Because though I may not like you, I know you, Bronwyn, and you wouldn't want to be the only one in the school not at the ball. Even Mudbloods have dates and I know you can't stand the thought of them being at the dance if you are not there. And because I have nothing better to do and I think the 'party' will be a bloody riot and I would hate to have to miss it."  
  
"Draco Malfoy, do you honestly think you know me so well that you can presume to know what I think? You haven't said so much as a 'hello' to me since you hit puberty and noticed that Tracy and Daphne and your little groupies had breasts. Why don't you go bother one of them?"  
  
"Bronwyn, dear, I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about," Draco grinned widely and Bronwyn just rolled her eyes, hiking her bad onto her shoulder and resituating the books in her arms.  
  
"Tracey. Pansy. Millicent." Bronwyn hissed. "Go bother them for a date and leave me alone. Unless," a glimmer of recognition crept across Bronwyn's eyes and a smile tugged at her lips as Draco's eyes clouded over, "they already have dates, don't they?" Draco said nothing in response. "Ah, so I do have it right. I assumed as much, considering that you are here with some lame excuse and horribly veiled attempt to get me to go to the ball with you just so that you won't have to show up somewhere alone and admit that you aren't as wonderful as you think you are." Bronwyn laughed harshly. "You are just like your father, Draco, expecting people to worship you and cater to your every whim. Well guess what. I won't." Bronwyn shook her head and turned away from him, stalking towards the door and throwing it open. She stopped and turned back, leveling her glare with Draco's.  
  
"I would rather not go to any ball ever again and be alone for the rest of my life than go anywhere in public with you." Bronwyn turned on her heel and hurried down the hallway, leaving Draco alone in the empty classroom, stunned. He had just been turned down by a girl, not because she already had a date, but because she didn't want to go anywhere with him. He decided right there that he wasn't going to let this rest until he showed up Saturday night with her on his arm. 


	4. February 12, Night

"You did what?!" there was a small cry from one of the beds across the room as the curtain was yanked back and two pairs of slitted eyes glared at her harshly. Bronwyn was sure that if eyes could possibly shoot daggers, she would have been dead by now. She rolled her eyes and leaned back against her headboard.  
  
"I said, I turned Draco down for the ball. It is not a big deal, Millie," she said Millicent Bullstrode gaped at her as if she wanted to say something. "You two both turned him down as well, in case you forgot."  
  
"Only because we already had dates!" Pansy Parkinson snapped at her and Bronwyn laughed, shaking her head.  
  
"Desperate," she said under her breath to Caitlyn, who say beside her.  
  
Pansy and Millicent both glared continuously at Bronwyn. "Humph," they huffed as they pulled the curtains on Pansy's bed closed again. Bronwyn closed her own curtains and turned to look at her best friend, who had been intently studying her for the past five minutes. "Well?"  
  
"Why did you turn him down, Wynnie?" Caitlyn asked. "You don't have a date. He doesn't have a date. Don't you want to go to the ball?"  
  
"He's a pompous stuck up asshole who doesn't deserve the time of day from any girl in this school, Cait. I would rather not go to the ball than go with someone like that. Besides, you told me to start saying no to things," she shrugged and pulled her cat into her lap. Caitlyn rolled her eyes.  
  
"Wynnie, you know that was not what I meant. You used to be friends – " Bronwyn cut her best friend off by raising her hand and shaking her head.  
  
"Not anymore, Cait," Bronwyn paused, biting her lower lip. "He's changed. And he obviously doesn't want to be friends with me, seeing as the only time he has spoken to me since we were twelve is the one time he is so desperate to not seem alone that he is willing to lower himself to asking me a ball. I do not like being an object or a last resort. I'm a person. And I used to be his friend. I'm not sure what happened," she said quietly and turned, laying her head on the pillow. Caitlyn sighed and shook her head.  
  
"Fine, Bronwyn. Have it your way. Stay in the house alone on Saturday and make yourself miserable. Yeah, that is a bloody wonderful idea," she rolled her eyes and she climbed off the bed and Bronwyn heard her close the door behind her as she left the room, Bronwyn's cat traipsing behind her. Bronwyn assumed she was going to the common room or somewhere to find Theodore.  
  
Bronwyn huffed into her pillow and turned over, staring at the canopy above her. Why was everyone making such a big deal out of this stupid ball anyway? So Dumbledore had decided they needed some fun and wanted to throw them a party. Who cares? Valentine's Day was a stupid holiday anyway.  
  
'Yeah, Bronwyn, keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll believe it,' she thought to herself. She threw back the curtains and left the room, striding down the stairs to the common room. She hurried past the clustered groups and out the portrait into the school hallways. 'I just need some fresh air,' she told herself, 'then it will all be better. Fresh air will fix everything.' She hurried towards the main doors and out towards the grounds.  
  
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Draco huddled in his chair in the corner pondering where he should go from here. He was not surrounded by his usually circle of lackeys, as Crabbe and Goyle had been avoiding him since the girls had turned him down and Theodore and Blaise had both found it remarkably hilarious that Bronwyn had turned him down. Tracey Davies, a sixth year Slytherin witch, had been wandering by the empty classroom as Bronwyn left and had caught a bit of the conversation, namely the end of it, and had taken it upon herself to rush back to the house and inform everyone she saw there and on the way that "Bronwyn Zoruman just rejected Draco! Oh, it was vicious!" It was the gossip of the house and apparently a highly amusing story that needed to be retold in one way or another every five minutes, to the displeasure of Draco and the great amusement of all of his friends.  
  
Draco was very tempted to go after Bronwyn and tell her that no one, no one, insults or rejects a Malfoy that way, but he know that was just what she expected and he refused to give her the satisfaction of being right about him in any way, shape, form, or fashion. Besides, the moment she had said that to him, Draco had become determined that she would be going to the dance with him. He just had to figure out how to make it happen.  
  
People were clustered around the room, talking and laughing away like always. He heard someone on the stairs from the girls' dormitory and saw Bronwyn hurry through the room without looking around and seemingly without noticing the silence that greeted her and followed her out of the room. Draco stood up and slipped out of the room behind her, following her down the hallway. He realized she was going outside and took a short cut that led him out the back way and allowed him to reach the lake's shore before she descended the front steps. He sat against the tree, in the shadows, and waited for her to approach.  
  
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Bronwyn hurried down the front steps and then slowed her pace slightly and she wandered across the snow covered lawn towards the lake. It had always calmed her, though she was never sure why, even on this dark night, when the sky and the faint stars reflected in the smooth, icy surface. She stopped a few yards away from the tree that so many students used for shade during the bright days spent studying and just lounging outside. She lowered herself to a large rock and pulled her knees to her chest, staring across the lake and into the trees.  
  
"It seems that great minds think alike," a familiar voice met her ears from the shadows and Bronwyn closed her eyes, trying to stop a low hiss from escaping her teeth.  
  
"Will you ever give me a moment of peace, Malfoy? Or are you intent on stalking me?" she snapped, never averting her eyes from the water in front of her. She could hear him just beyond the shadows; out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of his hair as he stepped towards her. She wrapped her arms around her knees.  
  
"Now where in the world would you get the idea that I am stalking you?" he drawled.  
  
"Well, you seem to show up in odd places where I am. First, the library, which you are never in of your own free will, to harass me, now out here on an awfully cold night when no one else seems to have the guts to brave the weather."  
  
"I seem to remember being here before you showed up."  
  
"Yes, and I'm not sure how that works considering that I know I saw that greasy white hair of yours lurking in the corner of the common room on my way up here." Draco clicked his tongue at her as he stopped, steps away from her, casting shadows over her small frame.  
  
"Tsk, tsk, little Brownie. We are the observant one, aren't we?" Bronwyn growled low in her throat.  
  
"If you call me that again, Malfoy, I swear..."  
  
"Swear what, Zoruman? What could you possibly do to me?" he laughed, lowering himself beside her.  
  
"There is not a curse invented yet that is bad enough for you, Draco Malfoy."  
  
"Now, now. Such hostility from one so young."  
  
"Draco, would you stop pretending and just tell me what you want so that I can say no and make you leave me bloody alone already?" Bronwyn finally leveled her gaze on him instead of the ice.  
  
"I want you to go to the dance with me Saturday night."  
  
"You already said that. And I already said no. Or can you not get that word through your thick skull? What part of it do you not understand?"  
  
"Oh, I understand what it means. I just don't think you actually mean that."  
  
"What in Merlin's name would make you possibly think that you know better than I do what I think and mean, Draco? Do you have some special capability that lets you read my mind incorrectly or something?"  
  
"No, I just know you."  
  
"No, Draco, you don't. You used to know me. You knew me when I was younger. You probably could have even claimed to have 'known' me that well when we were twelve. But seeing as you have not said a bloody word to me in five years and seeing how much everything had changed since then you cannot claim that you know me any more than a stranger can."  
  
"You couldn't have changed that much, Bronwyn."  
  
"I have Draco. And so have you apparently. You weren't always this much of a bloody prick. Now, if you would be so kind, accept the fact that I am saying no and leave me alone." Bronwyn stood up and stalked away towards the castle before Draco could say anything in response. He stood up and started after her.  
  
"Brown....Bronwyn! Please wait!" Draco called before he realized what was leaving his mouth. Against her better judgment, Bronwyn stopped on the bottom step and turned to him.  
  
"Please? Since when is that word a part of any Malfoy's vocabulary?" she sneered at him.  
  
"Since I've been lowered to having to beg a friend to go somewhere with me because I have no other options."  
  
"Well, at least you are admitting I am a last resort. But Malfoy, I am not a friend." Bronwyn turned to start up the stairway. Once again, the familiar drawl stopped her.  
  
"Why do you hate me, Bronwyn?" Bronwyn rolled her eyes and turned back to him.  
  
"Because you are an arrogant bloody prick. Because you called me your best friend for eight years and then abandoned me the second you thought it was not in your best interest in trying to be 'popular' to be seen with me. Because you waltz back here after five years of nothing, not a note, not a letter, not even a 'hello' in the halls and expect me to fall at your feet just because you are Draco Malfoy. Because I think you need to be informed that you are not the end all and be all of this school. There are other people here, you know; people with feelings and you step all over them without thinking twice. I may not like them all, but I don't trample them like that." Bronwyn took a breath quickly, but kept plowing through; she was afraid that if she stopped now, she could never get it all out. "Because you expect everyone to worship you just because you are Draco, no matter how horrible you are to them. Because you are exactly like your father and you will probably end up even worse than him. Because one of these days you are going to break and you are going to fall and you are going to try and take everyone around you down with you – you have already started. And I will do anything I can to keep that from happening, even if it means losing you. I will save them before I think twice about you. But mainly, Draco, I don't like you because I think you need to be humbled," Bronwyn tried to steady her voice as it began shaking. There were so many things she had imagined saying to him and she couldn't get a single one of them to come out. She fought the tears as a lump began to form in her throat and she willed herself not to cry.  
  
"That sure is a lot of reasons," Draco mumbled quietly, sinking to a seat on the stairs. Bronwyn sighed.  
  
"Is that what you wanted to know? Do you want to know anything else?" she asked, her hand on the front doors.  
  
"No, I think I have had enough stomping on my ego for one day, thank you," he said to the ground without looking up at her.  
  
Bronwyn stared at him for a moment. Now that she had actually said it all, she thought she might have been rather harsh on him. 'But he deserved it,' a small voice told her. 'After the way he has treated you and everyone else these past five years. You only gave him what was coming to him one of these days anyway.' Bronwyn shook her head to try and rid herself of the voice. She opened the door and started into the castle.  
  
"You probably shouldn't stay out too long, Draco. It's awfully cold outside," she said quietly before she hurried across the main foyer, hearing the front door close loudly behind her. 


	5. February 13, Early Morning

Draco sat on the front steps for quite a long time, until his hands finally told him it was time for him to head back inside by all but freezing to the point where he could barely move his fingers. He cupped his hands and blew warm air into them, rubbing them together in an effort to try and revive them. No one had ever said anything like that to him before (as least not anyone who mattered at all). He wasn't quite sure how to take it.  
  
'How dare she talk to me like that,' he fumed to himself. 'Where does she come off saying and assuming those things? She doesn't know me at all. She is wrong about me and she is going to pay for it!'  
  
He hurried to the dungeon so as not to run into Filch or Mrs. Norris (or any other teacher that might decide he needed detention, as he was out of the house a good deal after curfew). He reached the dungeon and absently gave the password climbing into the room and collapsing automatically into his usual chair before the fire. The common room had cleared of students and he just stared at the flames before him, pondering.  
  
"I take it you did not take my advice and come in before you froze to death," a voice from the opposite corner said quietly. Draco stiffened.  
  
"I wasn't ready to bloody come back in yet," he growled slightly. He heard her footsteps as she crossed the room. She held something in front of him and stared at the flames.  
  
"Drink it," Bronwyn said as he eyed it warily. "It will make you feel better. I promise that I did not poison it. If I were going to kill you, I would choose a much more original means of doing it."  
  
Draco took the mug she handed him and drank the entire contents. He suddenly felt warmed from the inside and he could feel his hands and feet again. He handed the mug back to her. Bronwyn flicked her wand and the mug disappeared. She sat in the chair to one side of him, staring into the flames of the fire in front of them. Draco stared at her and all his anger started fuming again. He glared into the fire.  
  
"Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?" he snapped and Bronwyn stared at him blankly. "You, with your 'better than thou' and holy attitude. You walk around here like you are the queen or something, expecting everyone to bow down to you. You can't claim I am all those bloody things without saying them about yourself as well. You aren't 'Little Miss Perfect', you know. You are no better than anyone else – and I think you know that. You just don't want to have to admit it. And that's why you hate me. Because I am better than you and it pisses you off." Draco leveled his glare on Bronwyn, searching for some kind of reaction.  
  
Bronwyn started laughing. She threw her head back and just laughed at him which, given the look his face took, was not exactly the response that Draco was hoping for or expecting. He scowled harder and sank back into his chair. "Are you that desperate to think that I am wrong? Fine. Believe whatever it is you want to believe. And do you know what? Out there, when I saw how much that appeared to have affected you, I thought I might be wrong. Maybe I was wrong about you and you are not as much of an arrogant jerk as you play yourself off to be. Maybe there was a decent human being lurking under that gelled hair and cocky smile just trying to get out. But it looks like I was right after all. Thank you for proving that to me, Malfoy." Bronwyn stood up quickly and turned away, starting across the room towards the stairs to her dormitory.  
  
"You always have to have the last word, don't you Zoruman?" Draco snapped, jumping to his feet and following her quickly across the room. "Can't stand to let someone else one up you in a fight?"  
  
"This is not a fight, Draco. Because for it to be a fight, I would have to care."  
  
"Look, Brownie – " Draco started, but Bronwyn cut him off.  
  
"Look, I shouldn't have said what I said out there, but I did and that's over now. I've said my piece and you've said yours, it is obvious that we hate each other and that's not going to change, so let's just leave it at that and go on with our lives the way they were," she said softly to the wall, her back to Draco.  
  
"I asked out there," Draco hissed at her back, taking deep breaths. She wondered if he was trying to save energy and make her angry at him again or if he was trying to calm down.  
  
"I know..." she trailed off. She sighed, taking a deep breath. She spoke quickly, so as to get everything out at once. "It's just that I've had five years to mull over all the things that I don't like about you and all the reasons I should and do bloody hate you. I should have just picked one instead of letting them all come out."  
  
"So that's all the reasons, then?" Draco snapped.  
  
"Well...no. There's more, but those are the ones that popped into my mind first," Bronwyn mumbled.  
  
"I see." The two stood in silence, motionless, for a few moments. Draco tried to remain mad and upset at her, but there was a small voice tugging at his mind. He tried to shake it off. There was something about the way she stood, her eyes staring at the floor. For some reason, he knew it was his fault. And a small voice in his head told him to fix it.  
  
Bronwyn just closed her eyes. She was tired. She was exhausted. She was sick of fighting this fight with him and she was sick of the energy it took to hate him actively. She shook her head. She turned back to him and stared at him for a moment. He was trying to hide pain behind his eyes and the scowl. But she could still see it. She had hurt him. She sighed again and brushed at the tears that threatened her eyes.  
  
"Well...I guess I'll leave you now. I should go try and get some sleep. You probably should too," Bronwyn said quietly, turning away from him as she started to climb the stairs.  
  
"Bronwyn – " Draco started, his voice breaking slightly, but Bronwyn cut him off.  
  
"Don't say it, Draco. I know you don't mean it and I do not want to hear it unless I can believe it and, coming from you, I cannot believe that."  
  
"How do you know what I was going to say?" Draco tried to tease, but there was still an edge to his voice.  
  
"Because, Draco, as much as I don't want to admit it and as much as you ignore it, I do know you," Bronwyn shrugged and continued up the stairway, leaving Draco in the empty common room before the happily crackling fire. 


	6. February 14, Day, Before the Ball

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear on the crisp grounds covered with a fresh blanket of white snow. It was Valentine's Day and most of the school was excited and babbling incessantly about the dance that night – especially the girls. Bronwyn just rolled her eyes and stared at her breakfast, trying to choke down some food before the rest of the girls at her table made her sick. Even Caitlyn, sitting beside her, was joining in the uncharacteristically excited giggles and whispers. Bronwyn rolled her eyes and leaned closer to her plate.  
  
"They sound like a gaggle of geese or something," a soft voice whispered over her shoulder. Bronwyn looked up and saw Draco sliding into the seat beside her that Blaise had vacated moments before. She rolled her eyes and went back to her food with nothing more than a glance in his direction and no sound to acknowledge him. She had managed to avoid him all of Friday and had been hoping for the same success on this day.  
  
"Bronwyn, you can't ignore me for the bloody rest of time. So here, I'll make a deal with you. You go with me tonight – eh eh, let me finish," he said as Bronwyn opened her mouth to protest. "You go with me tonight," he continued, "and I promise that if I do anything to make you mad or annoyed or uncomfortable, that you can leave right then and there. I promise to be on my best behavior, but this way, we both get to go and neither of us has to go alone. Everyone wins." Bronwyn glared at him evenly and then turned her attention back to her food. "Come on, Bronwyn. Just go to the dance with me tonight."  
  
Bronwyn sighed at the table and closed her eyes. She remembered the feeling from a few nights ago, how purely tired and exhausted she had been and still was. She was tired of fighting. She was exhausted form the effort it took to actively hate and avoid Draco Malfoy.  
  
"If I go to the ball with you will you promise to leave me alone when it is over and stop bothering me? Will you promise to just let me be?" she sighed.  
  
"Promise."  
  
"Alright. I'll go, though I am going against what everything my head is screaming at me right now. But I will leave you at the first sign of anything I don't like. I promise you," she turned and glared at him.  
  
Draco smiled at her. "It's settled then. I'll meet you in the common room at 6:45," he grinned and then slipped out of the seat and moved to another part of the table.  
  
"Wynnie?" Caitlyn leaned over to her, trying to appear innocent as she apparently took a break from her giggling with the other girls. She seemed to notice Bronwyn's scowl. "Was that what I think it was? It our little Bronwyn going to the Valentine's Day ball with Draco Malfoy?" A smiled tugged at her lips.  
  
"You breathe a word of this to anyone and I swear you will die a horrible, horrible death. I will personally be sure of it," Bronwyn hissed and Caitlyn just laughed at her.  
  
"Alright, Wynnie, have it your way. But you do realize that people will notice when you come into the ball with him. You can't hide from the school all night long."  
  
"Maybe I can just transfigure myself invisible. I've heard that it is possible."  
  
"I've also heard it is extremely hard and much beyond your level. I think you will have to come up with a better plan than that, dear," Caitlyn laughed as Bronwyn stood and hurried out of the Great Hall, attempting to get away and hide in case word got out that she was going to the ball with Draco Malfoy.  
  
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"Come on, Wynnie. You will have fun. You know you will. Besides – I'll be there. Just in case he does decide to be a bloody prat."  
  
"I just wish I'd kept with what I was thinking and just refused," Bronwyn sighed, falling back on her bed and staring up at the green canopy.  
  
"And then you would have stayed holed up here all night and what fun would that be?" Cait grinned, pulling her back up and handing her the dress robes Daphne had just retrieved from Bronwyn's trunk. "Now put those on and march your little butt down those stairs," Cait laughed as she pushed a grumbling Bronwyn towards the door. Bronwyn sighed with a realization that her best friend was not going to let her out of this one and slid into the robes, running her fingers through her hair. Cait handed her a small pot of lip gloss.  
  
"Just put little bit of this on and you should be fine," Cait said as she pulled part of Bronwyn's hair back with a small comb. Bronwyn sighed but obeyed, then turned to look at the three other girls in the room.  
  
"Well?" she asked cautiously.  
  
"You look wonderful, Bronwyn," Tracey smiled at her.  
  
Daphne tried to glare at her through a smile. "You realize I hate you, right? I have spent the last two hours getting ready to go to this ball with Blaise. You just got ready in two minutes."  
  
"So I guess that means I look okay then," Bronwyn managed a weak smile.  
  
"You look wonderful. Now go. You don't want to keep him waiting," Cait smiled as she, Tracey, and Daphne collectively hurried Bronwyn out the door and towards the common room.  
  
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"What in the world could possible be taking them so bloody long? It's not that hard to get dressed," Blaise rolled him eyes. Theodore laughed at him.  
  
"They're girls, Zabini. You never ask questions like that about them. They have no logic. They take 5 minutes on an exam and 5 hours on their hair," Theodore rolled his eyes and Blaise just shrugged at him.  
  
"Well, they need to be ready. They are all already five minutes late. Malfoy, did she actually finally end up saying yes?" Blaise raised his eyebrows at his friend.  
  
"Of course he did, dimwit. What did you expect?"  
  
"I expected her to put up more of a fight. It would have been much more amusing to watch than another little groupie giving into your 'charms'. She apparently doesn't have near as much conviction in her as I thought she did," Theodore mused as the girls appeared at the top of the stairs and each of the three boys got quiet.  
  
There was an awkward silence and Caitlyn, Bronwyn, and Daphne descended the stairs, Tracey just behind them. Tracey hurried straight out the common room door, on her way to meet her Ravenclaw date in the main foyer. The other three couple just stood for a moment, looking at each other blankly.  
  
Theodore grinned at his girlfriend and broke the silence. "You look good, girls. Come on, we should head to the Great Hall. We wouldn't want to be late, would we?" he laughed and took Cait's hand, pulling her towards the door. Blaise and Draco each cleared their throats and they turned to follow Theodore, the two girls just behind them.  
  
Blaise and Daphne hurried up towards Cait and Theodore, but Draco pulled Bronwyn back slightly as she tried to join them. "You look nice tonight."  
  
"Thank you, but you don't have to lay it on thick for me. I know this is just a convenience thing and that there is nothing there and nothing will happen. I have no misconceptions about this night at all. Don't worry," she said quietly, then hurried to where her friends walked a few paces ahead.  
  
Draco watched her as his lips pulled into a slight scowl. He was trying. 'Maybe you deserved that,' he thought to himself quickly. 'You haven't been the nicest guy to her. She is somewhat right...' Draco shook his head and quickened his step to catch up with the rest. As he fell into step beside then, something occurred to him. 'Fight....conviction....' "HEY!" he said loudly, throwing a light punch at Theodore and catching his arm. The boys started laughing as the girls just stared at them blankly.  
  
"Boys.... I don't think we will ever understand them," Daphne said lightly, and shook her head. 


	7. February 14, Night, Valentine's Day Ball

The Great Hall was decorated very brightly with twinkling lights and ribbons of pink, red, and white that floated above the students, grouped in all corners and around the Great Hall. The teachers all stood where there was usually the Head table, smiling (some genuinely, some forcefully) at the students before them. The Hall was filled with joyful chatter and laughter that halted as Dumbledore cleared his throat and all eyes turned his way.  
  
"Thank you all for humoring an old man. I suspect my abrupt decision to have this Valentine's Day dance was disturbing to some of you," he said with a pointed look at Snape and McGonagall, "but I assure you I have learned there is wisdom in indulging occasional whims." There was laughter scattered about the room and a small smattering of applause. "Now – enjoy being young and have fun!" The older man called with a laugh as a band appeared at one end of the room and started to play. The groups dispersed rather quickly and dissolved into a mass of dancing students, laughing and talking as they moved with the band.  
  
Caitlyn and Daphne pulled their grumbling dates into the middle of the hall with the rest of the school. Bronwyn settled into a chair at one of the tables that skirted the edge of the "dance floor" and Draco sat rather uncomfortably nearby. Bronwyn laughed at her friends, and even harder at their dates trying to dance along.  
  
"So you don't dance?" Draco asked her. Bronwyn rolled her eyes slightly.  
  
"Not exactly. Just don't feel like dancing right now," she said quietly. Draco 'hmmm'ed in agreement and leaned back. The two were once again plunged into silence.  
  
"Wynnie! Draco! Come join us; it's fun!" Tracey called from the floor where she was dancing with her date. Bronwyn shook her head.  
  
"It is far better to watch you make fools of yourselves that to be out there with you!" Bronwyn called with a laugh. Tracey just grinned and shrugged, turning back to her guy.  
  
After another few moments of silence, the band started a new song that was slower. The couples on the floor all pulled together. "You can't hide from this one," Cait grinned at the two from close to their table. "This is what you came for." Draco and Bronwyn looked at each other and then at the couples again.  
  
"What do you say to going for a walk?" Draco asked quickly.  
  
"I say that sounds like a wonderful idea," Bronwyn replied as she stood and they hurried out into the small garden beside the castle. The music was muted, but floated out the open doors. Lights twinkled in the shrubs and trees and Bronwyn knew that, on closer inspection, they would turn out to be fairies or something of the sort. She scuffed her feet and stared at the path in front of them, walking slowly along the cobblestones.  
  
Draco stepped slowly along the path, his mind running like crazy. He had never really been at a loss for words with anyone, especially not a female or a friend, but here he was, completely silent when he should at least be talking about something. "Mother said to tell you 'Hello' and that you should come visit us soon," he said and immediately closed his eyes and gulped down, wishing he could be gulping down what had been the first thing to jump into his mind. 'Stupid,' he thought to himself.  
  
"How would your mother know you would be talking to me? Does she not know we haven't spoken in five years? Has she not noticed that I suddenly apparently disappeared from the planet?" Draco stared at his feet.  
  
"Apparently someone sent her an owl and told her that we were going to the dance together. But seeing as I got her owl before you actually agreed, I believe someone did so a bit prematurely."  
  
"Well, I guess it is lucky for you that I agreed then, hmm?" Bronwyn smiled weakly.  
  
"I guess so," Draco responded quietly and the two were dropped into silence once again.  
  
Bronwyn rounded a slight curve in the path and they came upon a small fountain with benches surrounding it. Bronwyn lowered herself to one of the stone benches and Draco sat beside her. She stared into the flowing water and glanced around. The bushes and ground off the path were still covered in glistening white snow. She knew the lake was still frozen, and yet the fountain still sprayed a small waterfall joyfully. She smiled into the blue green water.  
  
"There, at least you are smiling. I guess that's a start...unless you are laughing at some private joke about me. I am not sure I can allow that," Draco tried to tease her playfully and Bronwyn shook her head with a slight laugh.  
  
"No, I am not laughing at you. I was just thinking how pretty the fountain is. You are paranoid, Draco Malfoy."  
  
"I am not paranoid; I am just cautious."  
  
"No, I believe the word is conceited. You always think that everyone is thinking about you in one way or another, whether it is good or bad. Do you think that of people you have never met? Walking in Diagon Alley, do you just assume that everyone is noticing and remarking about you in their heads?" Draco's ears tipped pink as he blushed slightly and shook his head.  
  
"I don't always think people are thinking about me," he mumbled to the ground. Bronwyn just smiled at him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Draco. I have just spent so long actively hating you. Old habits can be bloody difficult to break."  
  
"You think this is easy for me? Trying not to offend anyone or do anything that I think might possibly annoy you? I don't want you to go running out of here."  
  
"You just don't want to be seen alone."  
  
"Well, maybe that is true. I don't know. But I know that I do not what you to leave and that means that I have to bite my tongue and catch my words and rethink everything I am going to say before I say it. That really puts a damper on my spontaneous wit," Draco grinned slightly and Bronwyn laughed at him.  
  
"So is that what you call it? Spontaneous wit? I thought it was just mean natured taunting. I guess you learn something new every day, hmm?"  
  
"Guess so. So you learned something new; return the favor, Bronwyn – teach me something. Tell me something I don't know," Draco drawled as he crossed his arms and leaned back slightly.  
  
"Something you don't know? My goodness, are you saying that Draco Malfoy does not know everything? Are you admitting that there are things you don't know?" Bronwyn mused playfully, her eyes wide with shock, but a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. Draco shrugged through his trademark cocky smile and Bronwyn laughed. "Okay, so you are neither confirming nor denying that there are things in this world you do not know. I can accept that," Bronwyn said with a laugh. "Hmmm, something Draco Malfoy does not know..." Bronwyn bit down on her bottom lip as she thought for a moment. "There are other people in the world of consequence other than you, your family, and your friends?"  
  
"Well, I presume that I can concede to that. But I could claim that, in all honesty, I did know that already and it is not anything new," Draco chided. Bronwyn lifted one eyebrow and just stared at him. "Alright, alright. I will claim that you taught me something new and that there are 'other people of consequence' in the world other than my family and friends. I just have not met them yet," he grinned at her. Bronwyn's smile faded and her eyes dropped. Draco startled and reached for Bronwyn's shoulder. "Bronwyn...what's wrong? Are you okay?"  
  
"Not even me?" she said in a very small voice, fighting desperately to keep the threatening smile from her lips and her eyes. Draco laughed at her.  
  
"I refuse to even acknowledge that comment with a response, Brownie," Draco continued to laugh and shook his head. Bronwyn smiled at him and pushed him with her shoulder.  
  
"See, Draco? Is being a decent person really that hard?" Draco glared at her playfully.  
  
"Again, I am not going to respond to that question."  
  
"Alright fine. Don't answer if you don't want to. But you are still smiling. And you are having fun. You are here with someone you hate and you are having fun," Bronwyn said, more to herself than to him as it dawned on her that she really was enjoying herself. She shook her head quickly.  
  
"Who said I hate you?" Bronwyn was caught slightly off guard by his easy drawl but tried to regain her composure quickly.  
  
"Well, um, let us go over this again. You have not spoken to me for five years, you tell me that I am a queen and expect everyone to bow to me, you call a number of things, and you expect me to not assume that you hate me? That's an interesting way to show me that you don't."  
  
Draco shrugged slightly. "So I'm not that good at handling rejection and people telling why I'm a horrible person. Sorry."  
  
"And the ignoring me for five years?"  
  
"No one's bloody perfect?" Bronwyn just laughed and shook her head.  
  
"I guess I really can't fight with that, can I?" Draco smiled widely and shook his head. "That does not mean that I think it is okay. It just means I can't disagree with you on that comment."  
  
"Point taken," Draco laughed and silence fell between them again. But it was different – neither teen felt hurried to fill the empty air between them. The silence was not one of nervousness but one of comfort with one another. Bronwyn shook her head as the thought crossed her mind. This was Draco, the biggest prick at Hogwarts. She couldn't be comfortable with him. She hated him! She shook her head again, once, twice, in quick succession.  
  
"Arguing with ourselves, Brownie?" Draco teased, noticing her shaking her head periodically.  
  
"I...I was just thinking. And disagreeing with myself," Bronwyn shrugged.  
  
"Yes, I do that. Quite often I find myself openly voicing opinions that disagree with my thoughts. Really," Draco laughed. "Bronwyn, your thoughts tend to know what's right. They usually have it pretty well figured out."  
  
"They can be wrong."  
  
"They can, yes, but they are often not." Bronwyn humphed and shrugged, raising one eyebrow.  
  
"They can change. You don't even know what I was thinking. Maybe it is a good thing I'm disagreeing with myself."  
  
"If you are thinking anything near what I am thinking, I would rather you didn't."  
  
"Think that way or disagree with myself?"  
  
"Disagree," Draco said quietly and just smiled at her. Bronwyn blushed slightly and tried to smile back, fighting the thoughts racing across her eyes as fast as they could.  
  
A noise on the path startled them both and they jumped, caught, to opposite ends of the bench. Three tall figures and a shorter one appeared in the shadow of the castle and Bronwyn heard a familiar laugh dance to her ears.  
  
"Well, well, well, if it isn't little Malfoy...I see dear Daddy made front page news this morning," Michael Corner chided. Bronwyn put a hand on Draco's arm and she could feel him go tense beneath it. He clenched his teeth and tried to shrug her off but she refused to let go.  
  
"He and his little follower Death Eaters were hiding out as Muggle pets in a Pet Shoppe, weren't they Loony?" Terry grinned maliciously and Draco tried very hard to breathe normally.  
  
"Seems that daddy has been sold," Luna shrugged. Bronwyn glared at her. She seemed nonchalant – maybe she didn't realize what this would mean to Draco, but Bronwyn knew. Bronwyn knew how close he was to both his parents – even now, probably even more so now than when she had known him. She gripped tighter and shook her head at Draco.  
  
"Ignore them," she whispered.  
  
"Poor little bouncing ferret – it seems your family has a thing for being animals," Anthony Goldstein grinned and Draco shot to his feet, going straight for the three boys. Bronwyn caught him by both arms and held him.  
  
"You can't talk about my father that way, you filthy trash!" Draco hissed, his breathing ragged as he tried to maintain his calm. Bronwyn stepped between him and the boys.  
  
"Draco, ignore them. They aren't worth getting in trouble over," she whispered to him and pushed his hair out of his face.  
  
"Yeah, Malfoy. Don't fight us if you're too scared. All you Death Eaters are the same – too scared to fight, talking bigger than you are. You are all just scared little babies," Terry taunted. Bronwyn turned on them and glared harshly at all three of them.  
  
"Get out," she hissed. The three boys just stared at her with cocky, smug smiled on their faces and their eyebrows cocked with curiosity. "Get out of here before I bloody curse you all until your mothers won't be able to identify your bodies when your dead," she said lowly, her voice never wavering or going up in pitch. She looked serious and as she reached for her wand, each of the three boys turned and ran. Luna Lovegood stood before her, alone, unwavering, and apparently not scared.  
  
"You're Bronwyn Zoruman, aren't you?" she asked. Bronwyn tried to breathe normally, trying to get the blood that had rushed to her face to drain slowly.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I saw your brother's name and picture on one of my father's lists. I knew I knew you from somewhere," the girls shrugged and turned, heading back towards the castle. Bronwyn closed her eyes, forcing herself to breath, and sank to her knees on the ground. Tears pulled at the corner of her eyes and she brushed them away impatiently.  
  
"Bronwyn?" the familiar drawl fell on her ears and she looked up to find Draco sitting on the bench just beside her. He held out his hand to her and she took it, standing up and sitting beside him. She stared at her hands and at the ground in front of her. "Brownie? What was that about?" he asked quietly.  
  
"They...they can't say that," she whispered.  
  
"Say what? That the followers are scared or cowardly?" Bronwyn nodded. "Why do you care? You hate them all anyway."  
  
"I don't hate them," she said shakily, as she was still trying to control her tears and her breathing. "I'm just scared."  
  
"Of what?"  
  
"For Tyrone," she whispered, trying to hide her face behind her hair. She couldn't stop the tears but she would be damned if she let Draco see her cry. She was fine. She just needed a little time to calm down. She just hadn't been expecting to fight that fight tonight and had temporarily let her guard down. She knew better than to do that.  
  
"Tyrone? Tyrone..." Draco said the name quietly, searching his mind for who it might be. Then, suddenly, it dawned on him. "Tyrone? Your brother?" Bronwyn nodded. "Ty is a Death Eater?" Draco whispered, keeping his voice down for fear of other lurkers in the bushes around them.  
  
"You can't tell anyone, Draco. I worry about him enough as it is. If anyone knew, he would be killed. Or worse."  
  
"But I thought Ty worked for the International Ministry....oh..." Draco trailed off as Bronwyn looked at him with pleading eyes.  
  
"Promise me, Draco."  
  
"Why would you think I would tell any one that Ty is a follower?"  
  
"Because it would be a good way to get back at me for whatever it is you hate me for," Bronwyn mumbled.  
  
"Bron...Brownie, I don't hate you. I never have. So would you please stop harping on something that is categorically untrue?" he lifted her chin with one hand and smiled at her. Bronwyn laughed slightly at him through her tears.  
  
"You always have to prove me wrong, don't you? What is this, a hobby of yours?"  
  
"More like a game. I get a point for every fact and ten for every opinion that you say that I prove wrong," Draco grinned as Bronwyn couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "There. You're smiling."  
  
"So I am," she grinned at him half heartedly as Draco pushed her hair out of her face, wiping her cheeks free of the sheen of tears.  
  
"You know what, Brownie? I was wrong. And I'm sorry."  
  
"Sorry? You're a Malfoy. You're never sorry," she laughed slightly, grinning at him until she caught his eyes. She could tell he was not joking with her. Her smile faded and she just watched him for a moment.  
  
"I called you a queen and told you that you thought you were Little Miss Perfect but that you weren't any better than anyone else. I was wrong. Well, half wrong. You aren't 'Little Miss Perfect' – no one is perfect – not even me. But you are better. You are better than Corner and Boot and Goldstein over there. You are better than some people think you are. You are a good person. You care about people," he smirked.  
  
"Yeah. And it hurts when someone you care about leaves you behind." Draco stared at his feet for a moment then grinned up at her sheepishly.  
  
"Can I claim temporary insanity?"  
  
"For five years?"  
  
"Okay, then I blame the Imperius Curse. Yeah, that's it. I was under an Imperius Curse." Bronwyn laughed and shoved him with her shoulder.  
  
"How about we just call a truce and start over?" she offered and Draco grinned.  
  
"I like that idea," he smirked and nodded towards the Great Hall. "Come on. We should get back into the dance before people start coming up with rumors. We wouldn't want it to get out that we actually like each other, now would we?" he grinned.  
  
"I don't know," she mused as she took the hand he offered and stood up. "It might not be so bad."  
  
"Alright then, little Brownie, we'll just let them talk." Draco laughed and leaned over to kiss her forehead. Bronwyn reached up on her toes and kissed his cheek then leaned against him as he threw an arm around her shoulder. They walked slowly along the path back towards the beckoning lights and sounds of the Great Hall. 


End file.
